Apologies in advance if this is placed into the wrong forum, was trying to decide if it should go into the v6 or v8 engine forum, lol. A buddy of mine is thinking of buying a new 5th gen camaro, gutting it and then building it from the ground up to be a street/strip car. I'm not quite sure that the ultimate and final result would be cheaper than just buying an SS, but I figured I'd at least ask on here first, before just throwing numbers and an opinion out. Thanks guys!

__________________

I can fix cars. I can't fix people.

2010 Camaro SS #123444 - K&N Typhoon CAI, Muffler Delete, MPD-1 Spoiler, Headlight Armor Blackouts. Mods to come: longtubes/tune/flux capacitor
Understeer is when you hit the wall with the front of the car.Oversteer is when you hit the wall with the rear of the car.Horsepower is how fast you hit the wall.Torque is how far you take the wall with you.

Go for the SS. I would think it would be cheaper to build the SS up than what it would be to by a V6 and try to swap in a LS3.

This considering the price of a crate LS3. Even an LS1 wouldn't make sense considering the price vs. the price difference between even an LS and SS. Then people would just think you had a really slow SS if you had an LS1 in there.

If you REALLY wanna' build a racing Camaro, maybe the cheapest route WOULD be best. After getting the best deal you can on an LS, yank out the six, sell it, buy an LX block and build it from bottom up, Kenne Bell 3.6, et cetera. Drop it in the car, of course there are hella other mods to make, but voilā a racing beauty.

I would be willing to drop the LS3 in mine, but the work required would be extensive. The V6-equipped transmission does not bolt to the LS-series V8, plus it would be logical to upgrade the transmission because it is weaker than the SS version. Since the transmission will have been swapped, the rest of the driveline should probably go, too. That extra power means you might want extra braking and upgraded suspension components, as well.

Basically, if you're going to do this work, you need to be prepared to remove everything under the hood and under the car. I'd love to do this project, but I simply can't afford it. :(

It is worth pointing out that an LS with major upgrades will cost less than an SS with the same major upgrades depending on your goals. For instance, if you're going to upgrade the brakes to 6-piston brakes, then why buy the 4-piston Brembos on the SS? Also, consider the suspension. Why have a complete FE3 suspension if you were going to upgrade the whole thing anyway? The FE2 would be just fine. If you want to go even further, an engine swap with an even more powerful unit—LS7, LSA, LS9—would cost the same whether you start with a more expensive V8 or a less expensive V6.